Series from 2015
A host is challenged to create one dish using two ingredients that start with the same letter.
It's all about vanilla and vinegar, as Chef Lauren Gulyas uses these unique flavours to create some exciting dishes after selecting the letter "V." To start, she uses malt vinegar to put an unconventional twist on a pub classic, fish and chips. Next up is dessert. Vanilla is a classic ingredient used in tons of recipes, but it's usually a background ingredient. Lauren decides to make a crème brulée where vanilla will be the star of the dish. Finally, she faces the challenge of combining the unlikely pair of vanilla and vinegar in one dish.
Chef Robert Jewell enthusiastically takes on a bacon and banana challenge. First, he shows us two cool things you can do with bacon: bacon jam and spice-rubbed pork belly. The pork belly is rubbed with 5 spice and brown sugar before slow cooking in the oven. Then he uses plantains to create his second dish. He adds green curry paste, plantains, shrimp and coconut milk to a wok to make a non-traditional creamy banana coconut curry. Once he finishes those dishes, he must move on to a dish that combines bacon with bananas and pays homage to a legend.
Rapini and raspberries are the focus of this "R" challenge. Chef Leah Wildman starts by making gnudis with the rapini - an Italian dish that's like ravioli but minus the pasta. She uses a mix of four different types of cheese for this dish. Next, she makes a delicious bourbon raspberry-rubbed steak with raspberry mango salsa. She cooks the steak in a cast iron skillet so the sauce will stick to the meat and create that rich crust. For her final mashup challenge, Leah creates an imaginative dish that combines the flavours of rapini and raspberry.
After picking the letter "P," Chef Lauren Gulyas must combine pork and pears together in a mouth-watering dish. But first, she tries them out separately. Lauren starts by making prosciutto-wrapped pork with chorizo. She uses a tenderloin, which is the leanest cut of all. The tenderloin cooks in no time but because it's so lean it really cries out for some spice and flavour. That's where the spicy, salty, Spanish pork chorizo comes in. Next on the menu is pears, and she uses them in a pear and parm pasta, called Fiocchetti. Then it's time to take on the challenge of combining the two, and just wait until you see what she does.
Chef Robert Jewell picks the letter "O" and decides to show us his favourite olive and onion dishes in this cooking challenge. He starts with an old school French onion soup. He cooks the onions slowly until they reduce, caramelize, and release all their sugars then tops the soup with gooey gruyere. Next up, Robert shows us the fun he can have with his second ingredient. Olives add the perfect tart, briny taste to the crispy Moroccan chicken dish he cooks up. Finally, he must combine both ingredients to create one flavourful dish.
For this '"P" challenge, Chef Leah Wildman is working with the delicious flavours of pork and pineapple. She starts with a perfect, juicy, pork roast. Her secret? Brining. The pork soaks in the brine, the purpose being to juice up the meat and raise the water content so it stays moist while it roasts. She makes a rub for the pork and roasts it to perfection. Next it's time for dessert, which is a caramelized pineapple polenta cake that only takes 20 minutes in the oven. But wait until you see what she makes when she combines both ingredients in her final challenge.